By Jakob Van Calster
(Reuters) -ASR Nederland’s organic capital creation grew 9.4% to 721 million euros ($839 million) in the first half of 2025, beating analysts’ consensus by 25 million euros, as a Dutch pension reform drove growth in its life insurance business.
The reform is driving pension funds to transfer part of their obligations to insurers. In the first half of the year, ASR completed three pension buy-outs for a total of 2.9 billion euros, and it aims to bring the cumulative amount to 8 billion euros by 2027.
“Many pension funds are deciding to transfer their obligations to an insurer and then purchase indexation guarantees for their retirees … This enables us to grow in the pension market, and we’re extremely pleased with that,” ASR Nederland CEO Jos Baeten told Reuters.
Operating earnings in ASR’s life insurance division grew 25% on the year, a leading driver for the better than expected results that were supported by broad-based growth across business areas, the company said.
It added the results also benefited from the absence of severe weather events, at a time when the global insurance sector faces potentially $150 billion in losses for the year and Southern Europe grapples with devastating wildfires.
Baeten said ASR was in talks with the government to prepare for future floods and intense rainfall, echoing concerns raised by the chief executive of Dutch peer NN Group regarding water-related damages in a country where about 26% of surface area is beneath sea level.
The group’s Solvency II ratio, which determines capital requirements insurers must hold, stood at 203% as it announced an interim dividend of 1.27 euros per share. Baeten said the solvency ratio was above a comfort zone of between 175% and 200% determined by the insurer.
“If we are structurally well above that zone for an extended period and, for example, cannot do much more in pension buy-outs … we will critically review (our capital allocation policy),” he said.
($1 = 0.8596 euros)
(Reporting by Jakob Van Calster in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
